Velcroman1 writes: It's being called "The Facebook Rule," and it's designed to shut you and me out of at least one social network. Wildly hyped private firms like Facebook want to raise more private money without going public — or divulging all their secrets and potentially giving some control to outside shareholders — but keep running up against the "the 500 rule," a regulation that says a private company like Facebook, Twitter, or Foursquare that has issued private stock to 500 or more investors must either make their financial records public or go public. Late last month, the House Financial Services Committee approved "The Facebook Rule," which would allow up to 1,000 investors (rather than the current 500) to hold shares in a private company before the business is required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and go public, and make it harder for you and me to get in on those deals.